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Leadership Lessons from Hollywood Super-Producer Lynda Obst: “Project Calm, so Nobody Makes the Fire Bigger”

With every industry—including Hollywood—in a massive state of flux, how do leaders get (and stay) ahead? Lynda Obst knows the surefire way to establish authority, the trick to balancing huge creative and financial pressures, and why you should never look nervous in public. She’s one of the most prolific female producers in Hollywood history, and her hit films include Sleepless in Seattle and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. She says making movies is like starting a new business every three years, and offers countless lessons for leaders in any industry.

What do a business leader and a Hollywood producer have in common? Surprisingly, a lot! “You have to project control of the filmmaking process, and then it’s not going to run off the rails,” says Lynda Obst. “And that’s like the basic competency of a CEO.”

A celebrated Hollywood producer with more than 16 hit films under her belt, Lynda knows how to lead in unimaginably high-pressure situations. She’s helmed films like Contact and The Fisher King and worked with stars like Tom Hanks and Robin Williams, and the lessons she’s learned from her incredible career are widely applicable to any company—including yours.

In talks, Lynda pulls back the curtain on the star-studded world of Hollywood, offering practical lessons and fascinating anecdotes to show you how you can lead and build trust in high-stakes environments. She draws on her bestseller Hello, He Lied, a modern classic about getting ahead in any business, to show you how to swim with the sharks and live to tell the tale. She explains why you shouldn’t do everything your studio (or your boss) says, how you can keep massive teams motivated for long periods of time, why you need to have multiple projects on the go while you work on your passion project, and so much more.

What do a business leader and a Hollywood producer have in common? Surprisingly, a lot! "You have to project control of the filmmaking process, and then it's not going to run off the rails," says Lynda Obst. "And that’s like the basic competency of a CEO." A celebrated Hollywood producer with more than 16 hit films under her belt, Lynda knows how to lead in unimaginably high-pressure situations. She’s helmed films like Contact and The Fisher King and worked with stars like Tom Hanks and Robin Williams, and the lessons she's learned from her incredible career are widely applicable to any company—including yours. In talks, Lynda pulls back the curtain on the star-studded world of Hollywood, offering practical lessons and fascinating anecdotes to show you how you can lead and build trust in high-stakes environments. She draws on her bestseller Hello, He Lied, a modern classic about getting ahead in any business, to show you how to swim with the sharks and live to tell the tale. She explains why you shouldn’t do everything your studio (or your boss) says, how you can keep massive teams motivated for long periods of time, why you need to have multiple projects on the go while you work on your passion project, and so much more. https://youtu.be/Q8SnQeO04kI

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